Dubbo missed out on one of allocated relocated matches for 2018, despite being confident it presented a good case.

Instead games went to the likes of Tamworth, Gladstone, Cairns, Bathurst and Mudgee, as well as the one that bothers Loxley the most, Gosford.

The NRL has classified Gosford as a regional area and it hosted one South Sydney-Canberra Raiders match in April and will host the Sydney Roosters-Gold Coast Titans game later this month.

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“We thought we would get one of the four games this year and it was disappointing to see Gosford get one of those games,” 

“For some reason the NRL has decided to classify them as a country area. They can turn right on the Pacific Highway, drive an hour north and go to Newcastle any time they want to see a game.”

He remains hopeful Dubbo may host an NRL game in 2019 but he is growing frustrated the region keeps missing out.

“We just want to know why. We have been trying to get games for years and we keep missing out. We thought we were close with Manly a few years ago and now we have missed out again,” Loxley said. “We haven’t ever been told by the NRL why we miss out.

“If we have to pay, I don’t know how we would do that. Council doesn’t want to pay and as a former councillor I can understand that but if we know a game costs $200,000 we can look at how we would raise that.”

The last game between two NRL teams in Dubbo was a trial match between the Bulldogs and Canberra in 2010. In the eight years since, it has hosted a City-Country game that attracted almost 10,000 people despite pouring rain.

At the same time, Bathurst has a long-term deal with the Penrith Panthers to bring a match every year, and drew it’s biggest crowd in five years on Friday night when the Panthers played North Queensland.

Mudgee has also secured a deal with St George to host two matches in 2018 and the second of those will take place in two weeks time.

“We’ve done everything we can, we have a history of hosting big games and we draw people from a 400-kilometre radius,” he said.

“It’s great that Mudgee and Bathurst are getting games, I have no issue with that, but it’s when Gosford gets regional games that it’s frustrating.”